Summer has returned...whoop-di-doo!! Despite having 101 things to do in the house and garden, I decided to adopt the prone position, soak up the rays and boost my vitamin D levels. It is the bank holiday after all, and even we part-time workers deserve our day in the sun; and no queuing in a 25-mile tail-back to the beach....Bliss.

There was enough of a break in the weather today to cut back the rest of the spent raspberry canes (and cripple my back further!). The autumn fruiting canes, Joan J, are raring to go despite having cropped once already (bless their little cotton socks)....10/10 for effort. I'm not so enamoured with Glen Moy; rust has been a problem for the last 2 years and I don't know whether to cut my losses or give them one last chance. Whereas Tulameen on the other hand, seems determined to take over the garden....shoots are coming up everywhere and the fruits are enormous. Hopefully, those I've frozen will see me through the winter.

The blackberries are plumping up nicely on the hills behind the village (see pic). It was wonderfully peaceful up there today, as always, with just the sound of the bleating (almost bronchitic-sounding) sheep and the plaintive cry of the lone buzzard circling. I picked about 5lbs of fruit; Ollie tends to help himself....now if he had opposable thumbs, he'd be really useful. Hopefully the crop will be better than the blackcurrants this year; usually it takes 5 of us several hours to strip the bushes in a remote garden near Coedely (thanks Alan), but this year we barely broke sweat.
Anyway, I now have a bowl wedged between the legs of an upside-down milking stool, with a piece of muslin pinned to the feet and a mass of stewed blackberries draining overnight, ready to make Bramble Jelly.....just like my Mum used to do. No hi-tech gadgetry here!

On Sunday it was finally dry enough to disturb the peace and fire up the lawn-mower. Luckily Ollie no longer regards the machine as a challenge to his alpha-maleness and attempt to silence it by barking vociferously. However, I do have to put a lot of the grass cuttings out for recycling as my compost heaps (yes, plural) can't cope with volume.
I also potted up a sweet little dwarf Pomegranate (or should that be 'pomegranate of restricted growth' in these days of political correctness??). It's replacing a scented-leaf geranium that looks like she's curled up her toes, but I'm always loath to throw out plants so I'll move her somewhere closer to the back door and apply a little extra TLC.

Market day in Llantrisant...and it rained, an all too frequent occurrence these days. But we were warm and dry in the old church hall, and while customers may have been a bit thin on the ground; the chatter certainly flowed.

As I write this now, the smell of bubbling apples (in preparation for Apple & Mint Jelly) is wafting through the house and mingling with the slightly less agreeable whiff of 3 wet dogs...very autumnal, and it's only August!